The Essential 100, No. 64: Resident Evil 2

ne of my first encounters with an insultingly easy video game puzzle came at the tender young age of 15 while playing Capcom's Resident Evil 2. After hitting a dead end in the Raccoon City Police Department's basement thanks to a sealed manhole, what should I find minutes later but a steel, crowbar-like object referred to by the game as a "manhole opener?" By giving the solution to an already easy puzzle in the name of the item itself, Resident Evil 2 already did me more favors than the entirety of the first game; if you remember correctly, the original Resident Evil hid important items within other items, which could only be found via a thorough inspection of their 3D models on the menu screen. By depicting its collection of weapons, jewels, keys, and other assorted trinkets as flat, static 2D images, Resident Evil 2 sent a clear message to the player: that kind of crap wouldn't be happening this time around.

Recapturing the magic of Resident Evil 1's haunted house wasn't going to come easy, and it certainly didn't; like Resident Evil 4, part two would see the developers return to the drawing board after a failed first attempt. Capcom's willingness to let their rising star gestate for as long as it needed to ultimately paid off, as Resident Evil 2 offered a sense of scale that hasn't been repeated by the series, regardless of how often Resident Evil sequels jumped around the globe.

Though the action confined itself to a single city, Resident Evil 2 didn't just present a straightforward adventure for the player; thanks to the confusingly named "Zapping" system, Resident Evil 2 was two, two, two games in one. As with the first game, players would select one of two characters, but this time around, their stories happened concurrently. And after finishing the game with one character, the other offered a sort of Zelda second quest-style challenge, with the added story hooks of getting to see what the alternate protagonist had been up to while you busied yourself with grinding herbs and shoving statues. Even though this two-sided story makes for a logistical nightmare, it provides enough incentive to start up a new game immediately after watching the credits roll.

Even though Kamiya's characters couldn't perform the aerial acrobatics his games would eventually become famous for, Resident Evil 2 empowers the player much more than the first game's hostile approach. Though it's still easy to have your life quickly whittled away by a handful of enemies -- especially if you haven't grappled with tank controls in some time -- this Resident Evil sequel cuts down on the aimless wandering of the original by making your goals explicit and the means to reach them obvious. And while you'll constantly be scrounging for ammo, Kamiya knows the simple joy of blowing off zombie heads with a shotgun, and gives you many opportunities to do so -- in fact, it's the first extra weapon you'll pick up minutes after starting a new game. (Let's not forget that the original Resident Evil threatened to squish you into a fine paste if you deigned to upgrade your arsenal.)

Resident Evil 2 might have offered less of a challenge, but it still provided everything a good sequel should: an expansion of the same elements that made us fall in love with the original, polished to a fine glow. Like the walking corpses that inhabit their decaying mansions and, Resident Evil games don't always age well, but this second installment helped prove that video game sequels didn't have to be the cheap, unnecessary cash-ins that plague the world of movies -- as long as companies like Capcom have the patience (and deep pockets) to let them develop into something great.

My biggest memory (spoiler warning)

of this game is a scene where you walk into the morgue and a door falls off the wall. We were in my friends basement watching him play and he emptied a full pistol clip into it before it hit the ground. All three of us grown men about jumped off of the couch.

Fast forward a year and a half later, I was playing through the game myself for the first time, and I did the exact same thing!!! I totally forgot I already saw what was going to happen.

Me too!!

I was gonna say the same thing, of all the encounters ive had in all the games ive played over the years that one moment is burned in my memory. I've never been so scared and impressed at the same time. What a classic game

My favourite in the series and maybe my favourite game of all time

Speed running my way through to unlock hunk and tofu is probably my proudest gaming achievement and unlike a lot of todays achievement/trophy hunts I actually had fun and didn't feel like I was forcing myself to play.

The plot and acting are just on the safe side of schlocky to not pull me out of the atmosphere that is created in the opening sequence and remains with you for the full game. More than any other zombie game this truly feels like the world has gone to hell. Wheres the remake?

Those Resident Evil redos...

I'm still heartbroken

that Capcom didn't give RE2 the remake treatment they gave the original. I love that GameCube remake so much, and for about three straight years after playing it the only thing I wanted was to see the same love given to RE2, because I always felt it was a better game. Le sigh...

The Big Debate

I'm so glad to see this on here as it is easily my favorite RE. Ever since I introduced my friend to RE4, we've had to argue about which is the best. For now, at least, I can rub this in his face like the mature, responsible person that I am.

Anyway, I'll never forget the first time I encountered a Licker, characters like Chief Irons, Ben, and the Birkins, or the "zapping" system. That was SO cool at the time (it's still pretty great). It's one of the only games that I've beaten 4+ times and still get excited about playing.

The horror game of the generation.

RE2 remains the quintessential PS1 survival horror experience, even with its easy puzzles and abundance of ammo. The combination of mind-blowing backgrounds and fantastic sound design (the menu sound effects = best in video game history, and the save room music...) made for a super atmospheric game. The cool conspiracy storyline and interesting cast of characters (for a video game in 1998) just topped it all off.

RE 2 was a gem

RE 2 was great. I liked how Leon and Claire's campaigns unfolded a bit differently. I suppse the reason I don't get upset over the new REs taking on a more action oriented direction is because RE 2 & Nemesis were already leaning heavily upon those themes to start with.

I'm sure if capcom's programmers could have added better aiming, spin kicks, grappler drops, and more responsive movement "back in the day" they would have.